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'Offer no resistance to injury'
Friday, March 03, 2000 By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
When Bishop Donald Wuerl heard of the shootings in Wilkinsburg Wednesday, he knew immediately that he would respond to the violence with a special Mass -- and he knew precisely which biblical text he would preach from:
"Jesus said to his disciples: 'You have heard the commandment, 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.' But what I say to you is: offer no resistance to injury. " Matthew 5:38
"It reminds us that if you choose 'an eye for an eye,' we will all end up blind. Jesus said you have to get beyond that," the Catholic bishop of Pittsburgh explained outside St. Mary of Mercy Church, Downtown.
A larger than normal crowd of 450 people packed the noon Mass yesterday to remember the victims and survivors of Wilkinsburg. Wuerl's homily was brief but delivered with a conviction that transcended his calm tone.
All believers must become serious about carrying God's love to the world and they must not let the rage-filled acts of others drive them to anger in return, he said.
When violence runs rampant, "We who are people of faith recognize that no solution is complete without addressing the most profound and basic cause of all violence -- alienation. Alienation from God and alienation from one another," he said.
Jesus offers the world a love that drives out anger, hatred and violence, he continued.
"He also reminds us that it is never too late to turn around and move in the right direction. Love is at the heart of the change that must touch our hearts first, then overflow into our actions and, therefore, into the world we create," Wuerl said.
"We pray today for the grace to open our hearts to Christ and his love; open our minds to God's wisdom that proclaims the sanctity, dignity and value of all human life, none of which we are free to terminate at our convenience; open our eyes to the light of faith that makes it possible for us to reset the moral compass of our community."
Phyllis Cosnotti of Verona was in a back pew, with a handwritten sign pinned to her jacket in memory of one of the slain men. "The time has come to have love [and] peace. Joe Healy was that kind of man," it said.
She had known Healy, a former Catholic priest, through his work as a storyteller. She thought he would have loved the Mass.
"It was about what Joe Healy was. If everybody was like Joe Healy, what a beautiful world we would have," she said.
When Wuerl was a freshly ordained priest in the 1960s, he was slightly acquainted with Healy, a Holy Ghost priest who worked at Duquesne University until 1974. The bishop was pleased when several people at the Mass introduced themselves as friends of Healy.
"They were here to gather in prayer with everyone else. That is what the church does in moments of tragedy," Wuerl said.
For a full text of Wuerl's homily, the texts it was based on and the prayers of the parishioners, see http://www.post-gazette.com.
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